Sail
by When The Tide Comes In
Summary: Lewis disappears, Cleo falls apart, and everyone else is left helpless to watch. —some fairy tales just aren't meant to be. Cleo/Lewis. Oneshot. R&R, please. I'm testing a new writing style and need some feedback, apologizes in advance for the short length.


**a/n:** _i have no idea what this is, other than depressing clews. i'm experimenting with writing style and junk. feedback is appreciated. xx_

* * *

Two months. It's been two months since Lewis left the Gold Coast with nothing more than a duffle bag full of clothes and two hundred bucks.

Cleo was running herself in circles trying to find him, going about her day in a flurry of anxious activity; making various phone calls and rechecking all his usual haunts. Rikki and Bella did what they could to help, offered their support, though they couldn't understand how it felt.

They hadn't been friends with Lewis since childhood, nor had they once been engaged to him.

Cleo knew Lewis had a rocky adolescence, and when she brought up either of his parents he'd often get defensive and switch the subject, shy away and get a faraway look in his eyes— It only took a few more mentions for her to get the hint she should just leave it be. Maybe that was why Lewis decided to up and run, maybe it had something to do with his family. Or his past. Cleo spent a lot more time than she'd like to admit racking her brain for reasons Lewis would just up and leave like that. No warning, no goodbye, _nothing_.

Two weeks after he'd disappeared she got a text message from him, a simple _I'm okay, please don't worry_. She was in her bedroom getting ready for bed when her phone had lit up, revealing the message. She'd cried tears of relief for almost an hour afterward. Every two weeks since then Lewis had sent her a reassuring text, though when she texted him back with a million different questions about where he was and if he was safe and eating okay, there would be no reply.

There was never any reply.

Seated at her usual table at the cafe, Cleo checked her phone for the seventh time in twenty minutes. She knew not to expect a reply from Lewis, but she couldn't help but hold onto hope he would for a little while longer. She swallowed thickly around the lump in her throat as she reread the text he'd sent half an hour ago;_ I'm still okay, I hope you're not worrying about me too much. I miss you girls. Stay safe._ Her eyes burned with the onset of tears as she reread it once, twice more.

"Cleo? You okay?"

Bella's voice pulled Cleo from her thoughts, she looked up from her phone with misty eyes.

"Yeah," Cleo breathed, voice trembling. "I just— Lewis texted me again. I keep hoping he'll respond but.." She took a deep breath to ward off the sobs, steady herself. "He never does."

Bella sat down next to her. "I'm sorry Cleo, I wish there was something more I could do. What did he say?"

"Just that he was still okay, and that he missed us and wanted us to stay safe."

"Well, at least he's still okay."

Cleo nodded, wiped the few tears that had escaped her eyes away with the back of her hand, and smiled weakly at Bella. "You're right. At least we know he's okay."

A beat of silence stretched out between the two of them before Cleo spoke again, her voice softened on it's own accord. "I just.. I miss him."

"I know you do," Bella said sympathetically. " I do too, but look at it this way; it's already been two months, and he's got to come back sometime for more money, and clothes. I'm sure Lewis will be back before you know it."

"Thanks Bella." Cleo offered, a little unsure.

Bella smiled and gave Cleo's hand a reassuring squeeze before getting up to prepare for her next song. If she was being honest with herself, Cleo didn't really feel any better — even if Bella did have a point. Lewis would have to come back sometime relatively soon for things like money and another few changes of clothes. But Cleo knew how resourceful Lewis was, relatively soon could mean anytime from another week to another two months.

All that was keeping her sane was his occasional text.

_I'm okay_.

{.}

Another two months pass and Lewis still doesn't return. The texts he'd been sending were getting fewer and fewer and Cleo was getting more and more frantic. _I love you_, She kept texting him. _Please come home. I need you_. As expected, no reply ever comes. Rikki and Bella do their best be there for Cleo, but most of the time she is absolutely unconsolable. They hadn't been swimming in _weeks_.

_Please come home. _Cleo continued to text. _Was it something I did? I'm sorry. I love you. Come home._

When Cleo's phone lit up she bursted into tears. Though, that didn't shock anyone. Her eyes were almost always misty and red these days, always a hare's breath away from actual crying. Even her dad and Sam had begun to notice.

_It's nothing you did, promise. I love you more than I could ever scream. _

Cleo nearly dropped the glass of orange juice she'd been pouring herself when the text came through and leaned against the counter, her head cradled in her hands as she erupted into another bout of sobs. She texted Lewis back when she'd calmed down enough to hold her phone.

_Come home. _

He sends her a final reply. _This is something I have to do. I'm sorry. _

{.}

"He isn't coming back." Zane tells Rikki after another month and half passes. "It's been almost six months."

Rikki inhaled sharply, refusing to mourn. "You don't know that."

"Rikki," Zane sighed. "Let's be real here, it's been— "

"No!" She roared, the stack of bills on Zane's desk bursting into flames. "Lewis is coming back, goddammit!"

Rikki stomped out of his office, slamming the door as she left, and headed straight toward the sea. It was her only source of comfort these days. She couldn't lose another friend, she just _couldn't_. She absolutely refused. It already felt like she'd lost Cleo now, as well as Lewis… Cleo just kept to herself, constantly texting and calling Lewis's number and crying when she didn't get a reply from him.

Lewis's final text comes on a Thursday evening. Cleo is laying in bed, too mentally exhausted to drag herself out of bed to go see Bella preform, when it comes through.

_I'm sorry. I'll always love you. _

{.}

"The Gap." Is all Sam says in a broken voice when Don asks her what the policeman at the door had wanted. "It's where they found Lewis."

Don's eyes soften, his throat tightening. "Is he… okay?"

"Don, you know the answer to that." Sam says again, her voice cracking. "It's easily a five hundred foot drop."

"Lewis can swim though. Cliff-divers do it all the time— "

"_Don_."

He's got hot, fat tears running down his face now and Sam does too. When Cleo comes down the stairs and enters the kitchen in her night rob neither Sam or Don speak, they just give a painfully sympathetic look. They don't have to speak. Cleo gets the message.

"No." She says,. "No. No no no— "

"It'll be okay, honey." Don says, pulling his daughter in for a hug.

She cries so hard she sinks to her knees, just collapses on the kitchen floor and sobs until she's dry heaving. Sam softly strokes her back and helps her to the couch where she curls in on herself and absolutely _wails_.

"They found Lewis's body tangled in the rocks." Sam says to Don later that night. "He tried to miss the ocean as best he could, they think. Quicker death."

The word hung in the air like a gaseous poison. _Death. _

"Why'd he do it? Don asked. "He was so happy."

"Apparently he wasn't." Sam said dryly. "I just… I don't know how to react. None of this feels real."

"I wish it wasn't." Don replied.

{.}

Cleo doesn't attend Lewis's funeral, instead she packs a bag of clothes and takes all the cash in the jar on top of the refrigerator.

By the time Don, Sam, and Kim return home—Cleo's gone.


End file.
